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“Nope. I was just on the phone with Matt—he’s a friend of ours on the force. Apparently, two thugs tried to hold up the new cupcake store down the block.”
“Who holds up a cupcake store?” asked Cooper.
“No idea, but more interestingly, what kind of cupcake baker keeps a shotgun under his counter? It’s not like we’re in a bad neighborhood. I think I’m going to see what I can find out about him. I hate to admit it, but King might have been right to be suspicious about him. In any event, he pulled out his shotgun, one of the thugs deflected the shot, the shotgun went off, and the thugs ran out the door. The owner followed them out into the street and fired at them; they fired back. As far as anyone knows, no one was hit.”
“Then I think we can assume for the moment it was just a random coincidence. What makes you believe someone is trying to kill you?”
His eyes held hers, waiting for her response; she was having trouble trying to look away. There was something incredibly compelling and dark behind Cooper’s eyes—not cruel, more guarded, as if he had seen far too many things no one should ever have to see. She couldn’t seem to break eye contact or make herself speak. It felt as though if she did, it would break some spell she wasn’t sure she wanted to break. The spell seemed to provide her with a safe little bubble in which she didn’t have to think about the ramifications of what she had discovered. She needed that safe bubble. She needed a place to breathe.
She might be able to breathe in Cooper’s presence, but she wasn’t sure coherent speech was available. Licking him might be, but she doubted he’d appreciate that. But wasn’t there a school of thought that said if you licked something it was yours? Did she want him to be hers? Just how kinky was he? Maybe he just worked on this floor and had nothing to do with what happened in the club.
Deciding this line of thought was getting her nowhere, she turned from Cooper to look at Seth, who was also handsome and muscular but did not call to that deep, dark, tingling place inside her. “Do you offer personal protection services?”
She wasn’t sure why the two men exchanged glances, but they did before Seth answered. “You have entered the hallowed halls of both Cerberus and Southside. Both Cooper and I are available to assist you with all of your needs in either venue.”
Anabella wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard Cooper growl.
“I’m not interested in your club…” she started.
Seth leaned forward and took her hand in his. “Are you sure?”
Anabella withdrew her hand, wrapping it around the crystal tumbler that still had a large shot of Macallan in it before bringing it to her lips and taking a sip. “Quite. I came here to engage the services of Cerberus.”
“That’s very disappointing,” said Seth, leaning back.
“Knock it off, Seth,” said Cooper in a low rumble that affected her in a strange way. It was as if she could not only hear the words, but feel them as well as they skittered along her skin, seeping into her pores and taking up residence in her belly as if they were butterflies taking flight. “Cerberus doesn’t just take on any client or any case. Generally, one or two of our investigators interview the potential client, and then we discuss the situation at our weekly staff meeting.”
“When is that? I don’t have time to wait a week.”
“In urgent circumstances, we can streamline the process and discuss the client and whether or not we feel Cerberus is a good fit for the client’s needs. Once we’ve decided to proceed, we contact the client, who then meets with the team assigned to them.”
“Team? There’s a team?”
“Yes, ma’am, at least two and usually three,” answered Seth. “For instance, Coop does a lot of the hands on, jump in front of a bullet thing. I’m generally the guy hacking systems and finding out what’s really going on. Oftentimes we have one or two people who act in a back-up or relief capacity.”
“How long does all of this take?” she asked.
“That can depend,” said Cooper sitting down next to her. “If the need is urgent—as in your case where your life is in danger…”
Anabella swiveled her chair back to face him. “You really believe me?”
“We have no reason not to. I will tell you that if we believe you are deliberately misleading us for whatever reason, we will take whatever action is necessary to sever our relationship.”
“I’m not lying. I mean, I have no real proof—not of someone trying to kill me, but…”
“For what it’s worth, Anabella, I believe you or at least I believe you believe. Even if we find out that you’re wrong, it doesn’t mean you misrepresented what you believe.”
“Is it wrong that I hope you take my case and find out I’m wrong?”
Cooper pushed the scotch back toward her. “Not at all. In fact, we’d like that, as well. Cerberus would prefer that all of our clients were never in danger, but I’ll tell you that most people’s instincts about this kind of thing are dead on—probably not the best word to use in this situation.”
Anabella could feel something deep inside her settle. She knew the company by reputation. They were said to be among the elite of the world’s private security firms. Their reputed success rate in kidnapping and ransom situations was second to none, and more than one corporate executive had been extracted from a foreign country he probably shouldn’t have been in. She’d come to the right place. Cerberus would and could keep her safe.
“Why don’t you take another sip of the scotch and then tell us why it is you believe someone wants you dead?”
Anabella picked up the scotch and downed it in one gulp. Had it not been as smooth as it was, she was pretty sure she would have coughed it back up. Instead, it flowed down her throat and into her belly.
“I don’t know if my name means anything to you…”
